Here at the February fork in the road of the college basketball season, some formerly wobbly notable names would seem to now be heading the right direction toward March. The next steps might get a little tricky, though.
Here comes Kansas.
By mid-January, the Jayhawks had just lost to West Virginia and UCF to get booted from the AP rankings for the second time this season. Their 1-2 start in the Big 12 was their worst in 20 years. The health of phenom Darryn Peterson had become a daily anxious part of the narrative. Would it be the hamstring tonight? The ankle? Cramping? He missed 10 of the Jayhawks’ first 22 games and was often taking himself out in others with cramps.
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But they have now won six in a row, three against ranked opponents, including shelling Iowa State by 21 points, beating BYU last weekend and Texas Tech in Lubbock Monday night 64-61. In that one, a most significant sight was Peterson on the court for a season-high 35 minutes. He struggled early but was out there at the end to hit two 3-pointers in the final 80 seconds, part of a 14-2 Kansas closing rush. The BYU and Texas Tech games gave the Jayhawks back-to-back wins over top-15 opponents for the first time in five years.
Next? The 17-5 Jayhawks have four games against top-10 opponents in 20 days, including trips to No. 1 Arizona and Iowa State. There are also home games with Houston and Arizona, the latter next Monday. Think Allen Fieldhouse will be loud if Arizona is 23-0?
Meanwhile, the conversation will continue to swirl around Peterson’s health, from the fans in the stands to NBA scouts.
“My personal opinion is, it’s water off his back,” Bill Self said about any collateral pressure that Peterson might be feeling from the subject. “He’s cut different when it comes to that type of stuff. I don’t think that we as a program should put extra pressure on him. But the pressure, he enjoys.”
Here comes Florida.
Remember when the Gators were 5-4? When they lost to Missouri and vanished from the top 25? When they were the gang who couldn’t shoot straight?
Never mind. Florida has won 11 of 13 and hit 91 points in six of their past eight SEC games. The Gators inhaled South Carolina last week 95-48 — 12 points more than they had ever beaten an SEC opponent on the road — and let the numbers describe what they just did to poor Alabama Sunday, 100-77.
They mashed the Tide by 72-26 in the paint and 25-0 in points off turnovers. The 72 paint points were the most for an SEC team in two decades. “Everybody’s afraid of Florida’s front court” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “And rightfully so.”
They had 55 points before they made their first turnover, four minutes into the second half. Florida finished with only two turnovers, fewest for the Gators in 30 years. They had 13 steals to Alabama’s one. They shot the ball well.
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“Today was more of what it looks like for us,” coach Todd Golden said.
It would seem the repeat bid has officially resumed. They might have six losses but so did the 2006 Florida national champions.
Next? The Gators next will be at Texas A&M, picked to finish 13th in the SEC but now leading the conference. The Aggies are 12-1 at home. Kentucky must still be played twice, too.
Here comes North Carolina.
The Tar Heels struggled whenever the ACC schedule took them West. They lost at SMU, then Stanford, then California, apparently forgetting to pack their perimeter defense for the trips. The three teams combined for 44 baskets from the 3-point line, making 54.3 percent of their attempts.
North Carolina has won four in a row since to go 18-4. Caleb Wilson just had his 16th game of scoring at least 20 points, and no Tar Heels freshman has ever done that. Wilson and Henri Veesaar are both averaging 16 points and nine rebounds and if they end that way, North Carolina will have two 16 and 9 men for the first time since 1960. The Tar Heels are 13-0 at home, though the latest was a tad messy, the 87-77 win over Syracuse Monday when North Carolina led by 31 points with seven minutes left but only six in the final 42 seconds.
“We have stretches of brilliance, and then we’ll go stretches where we’re making multiple mistakes consecutively,” coach Hubert Davis said. “That’s something that we have to work on and get better at.”
They’ll need to be better at that by Saturday. It’s Duke Time.
Here comes Houston.
To get a feel for how things often go for visitors showing up to play the Cougars in the Fertitta Center, notice how the game begins.
The fans are standing. That happens in lots of places, and the general idea is they won’t sit down until the home team scores its first basket. Not at Houston, though. Defense is the name of the game in that zip code. They don’t sit down until the other team scores and they do it for each half. When the Cougars have the D juiced up, that might take a while.
Just this past Saturday, Cincinnati was in town. It took more than three minutes in the first half for the Bearcats to score and nearly that long in the second. By the time the 76-54 Houston romp was over, Cincinnati had shot only 38 percent, was on the wrong end of a 19-4 gap in turnovers and been outscored in points off turnovers 26-2. “Playing to our identity,” Kelvin Sampson would say afterward.
Welcome to the Fertitta Center, where in the past 50 games, the home team has lost once. By one point in overtime. Texas Tech, a year ago Sunday.
Here’s the thing about the city of Houston. There are lots of sports arenas with unusual stores to tell.
The Astrodome still stands — silent and bedraggled, looking forgotten right next to the Houston Texans’ stadium. Strange sight. Too historic to tear down, too old to be used for anything besides storage.
The Summit is still around. That’s where the Houston Rockets won their only NBA championships more than three decades ago. Now it packs in the crowds as a megachurch. Where Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler once ruled, televangelist Joel Osteen is now the big name.
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Rice Stadium still is in business. That’s where the Owls play football, but its most renowned moment involved a guy standing at a lectern. That’s where President Kennedy made the famous speech that challenged NASA to land a man on the moon.
Down the street, Tudor Arena still hosts Rice basketball, with banners hanging from the ceiling honoring all the past greats. Names such as Robert Curl, Richard Smalley, Robert Woodrow Wilson, Larry McMurtry, Caroline Shaw, Maryana Iskander and Bobak Azamian. None of them ever scored a point. They’re Nobel or Pulitzer prize winners or Rhodes Scholars from the school and that’s who gets honored in the rafters at Rice.
Back to the Fertitta Center, who can spin yarns about being the base for the most persistent close-call-but-no-cigar program in college basketball.
Five Final Four teams have called it home. Two others made it before the place opened. None brought back a national championship trophy to put behind the glass case on the concourse. There are 11 programs who have been to seven or more Final Fours and 10 of them have at least one title to show for it — combining for 50 in all. Houston? Still waiting, and what program could be hungrier for a championship, especially after that two-point near-miss with Florida last April?
Which brings us to these Cougars. They lost early to Tennessee and struggled to get by Syracuse and some wondered if they had maybe lost a step. Opponents were actually regularly seen scoring 70 against them. Texas Tech hit 90.
But now they’re 19-2, with the losses by three and four points, and up to most of their usual ways of doing business — second in the nation in scoring defense, seventh in assist-turnover ratio, a monster at home. All this done with the same starting lineup in 21 games — a mixture of long-time Cougars and freshmen. Kingston Flemings is one of the latter and among the most productive newcomers in the land.
It took a while for this collection to reach cruising speed. Sampson wasn’t surprised. Playing relentless defense takes a purpose that is an acquired skill. Sampson addressed that the other day with the media.
“Failure is a huge part of what we do. We fail a lot. Sometimes people have to be reminded that we’re 18-2 and second place in the toughest conference in the country, so we’re probably not that bad. Failure is something that all of our kids have to understand is part of this process. It’s like losing games. When you’re a program that doesn’t lose very often people tend to overact when you do.”
“We’re just doing what we do every year. We just get better. I can’t think of a year where we haven’t. I don’t overreact like most people. Maybe that’s because I‘m in charge.
“When Kingston got here he thought defense was the thing that went around the backyard to keep the dogs and the toys in. Our team reflected these guys where they were early but we’re starting to reflect where they are now.”
Next? The Cougars must still go to BYU, Iowa State and Kansas. Arizona will be in the Fertitta Center Feb. 21. That’s a dangerous stretch, but Houston sure looks more like Houston these days. Kansas, Florida, North Carolina — there might be a second wind blowing through them, too.
